Sorry I'm Late
by CaptainKurtbastian
Summary: A prompt from Tumblr. With the help of Tony, Steve gets the dance he's been waiting 70 years for. Literally. Includes StevexPeggy and Stony friendship.


**A/N: This was just a prompt I got on Tumblr and just tons of Cap feels and Stony friendship and just ugh enjoy and review. Merci!**

**Sorry I'm Late**

"Hey, Cap?"

Steve's head snapped up from where it was stuffed in his sketchbook, which was now quickly closed up, a pencil placed neatly on top. "Yeah, Stark?"

"Some stuff was just brought here," Tony waved a hand behind him, "I think they said they found _it_ when they found _you_."

"You-you mean my stuff? From during the crash?" Steve asked, getting up.

"Didn't I just say that?" Tony asked in retaliation, quirking an eyebrow.

Steve just sighed and pushed his way (maybe a bit more forcefully than was necessary) past him and into the living room, where a box laid untouched.

And the box remained untouched for a good few minutes, Steve contemplating whether opening it or not would be easier.

"You know, nothing's going to jump out and bite you. There's no bugs in a frozen wasteland like that."

Steve jumped at Tony's voice and only looked over his shoulder to see him, his arms crossed and staring at the box blankly.

He remained standing where he was in the living room.

Tony gave out a frustrated huff and moved towards the box, which finally gave Steve the push to move and try and get to the box first. He stared at it for another moment, before finally opening it while Tony smirked behind him.

Opening the box fully, Steve closed his eyes and took one more deep breath… and then opened his eyes.

The first thing in the box that caught his attention was a dirty photograph of him and Bucky. Steve slowly put a hand into the box and grabbed the picture tightly.

"Who's he?"

Steve had forgotten of Tony's presence. He sighed once more and willed himself to keep composure. "Bucky. He was, uh, my best friend. Back in the day."

Tony hummed to himself and nodded, taking another step closer to the box and almost hesitantly reaching his own hand in. "What's this?"

Steve tore his eyes away from the picture, placing it gently down on a nearby table, before grabbing the item from Tony's hand. He recognized it instantly.

"Cap?"

He choked on the words, "My compass."

He turned the old compass around in his hand, tracing the outline of it with his fingertips. He let out a big breath and started to pry the compass open. Whether he was more afraid of what would be inside, or what wouldn't be inside, he wasn't sure.

It finally gave way and cracked open dramatically. Steve opened it up in his fingers and was staring at the face of a young, beautiful Peggy Carter.

His hands shaking, he slowly sank into the couch behind him, staring at the picture. His Peggy. His right partner. His heart ached as he stared into the woman he loved's eyes. A tear or two leaked out of the corner of his eyes and he brought up one hand to roughly wipe them away.

"What's her name?"

A pause. "Peggy. Peggy Carter." Steve was thankful Tony didn't say anything about his crying. He didn't need to lose his dignity with everything else he already lost.

"Fantastic. Jarvis—"

"Already on it, sir. Uptown Manhattan. The directions are ready in your car for you, sir."

Another pause. "Which car?"

"The Mustang."

Tony grinned widely. "Oh yes. Steve, get your ass off that couch. We're going on an adventure."

Steve closed his eyes, "Tony. Please, I don't want to—"

"Oh yes, yes you do, Captain." Tony, more gently than Steve had thought he could be, took the compass from him and laid it down on the table next to Bucky's picture. "These will be waiting for you when we get back, along with whatever else in this box. Let's go."

"Where?"

"You'll see."

"Woooooooooo!"

"Holy hell, Stark, slow down!"

"No! C'mon, live a little!"

"Slow down or we won't be living at all!"

"Fine, fine."

And they did slow considerably, until they made their final stop in front of a large apartment building. They both sat silently in the car.

Steve finally broke the silence, "Where are we?"

Tony just smiled in return and quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and flew out of the car. He was running up the stairs to the apartment building before Steve finally got unbuckled.

Steve finally caught up when Tony was talking to the doorman, who smiled and waved them both inside. Tony ran forward again towards the elevator, and Steve felt like he was chasing around a toddler.

"Do you ever slow down?"

"Try and keep up, Gramps!"

Steve shook his head and, okay, _maybe_ he laughed a little, before jumping between the two elevator doors.

"Thanks for waiting."

Tony nodded seriously, "No problem, buddy."

"You still never told me where we are."

"Someone's impatient. I should know, I am too, but seriously, just wait for-" Ding! "That."

The familiar doors opened and Steve narrowed his eyes at Tony's back, before following him.

"Okay, Jarvis said 2B. Here we go, 4B… 3B… Here."

Steve stared at the door. "Why are we here?"

"Just knock."

"Tony, why are we—"

"Just knock on the goddamn door!"

And Steve knocked. Maybe a little louder than necessary, but damn, Stark knew how to push his buttons.

They waited a moment in silence, before they heard the unlocking of a door and it slowly opened to reveal an small, old woman holding herself up on a walker.

Steve took a step back, "I'm sorry, ma'am, my friend must have thought—"

"Steve?"

He stopped in his tracks. He bent down to meet the woman's height. It's been 70 years and he would never forget those eyes. "P-Peggy?"

Steve could hear his heart thumping in his ears. "Peggy, it's Steve. It's me. I-I was frozen, and—"

"I read about it in the newspaper." Her voice was small and she was shaking slightly. She must have been at least 95 years old at this point, Steve was just happy she wasn't- no, don't think about that.

Steve looked into her eyes, those beautiful eyes that always let out her every emotion, though her mouth might say otherwise.

They stayed there in silence, both looking the other up and down. Peggy smiled, "You haven't changed a bit."

Steve let out a choked laugh, "I don't know if I can say the same to you."

Peggy's eyes shimmered as she laughed lightly. It was quiet once more, before she broke the silence one more time, "You still owe me a dance." She slowly moved her walker out of the way and grabbed onto Steve's forearms for support.

"I don't want you getting hurt—"

"Give me this dance, Steve. Please."

Steve walked into her apartment, guiding her backwards slowly as he did. He lifted her as gently as he could and placed her small feet on his large ones. Her hands moved to grip his shoulders.

"There's no music."

"We don't need any."

And so Steve started swaying them back and forth to an old tune that used to always get stuck in his head. He pulled Peggy close to him and stuffed his face into her hair and, God, she smelled the same. Steve sighed brokenly and closed his eyes.

There they both were, young and alive, and the tune in Steve's head was being played live by the band. Peggy's eyes were full of life and she laughed loudly when Steve started to softly sing the words with the song. He chuckled and pulled her close, smelling her hair as he was now.

He opened his eyes and tried to ignore the fact that there were tears in them.

"Sorry I'm late." His voice cracked.

"I'll forgive you just this once."

Steve smiled, a true smile, and inhaled her scent once more, flashing back to the scene that should've been, could've been, if he hadn't gotten into that crash, and he continued to sway, humming the song out loud.

All the while, Tony watched the scene unfold. He took a final look at the couple swaying to nothing but Steve's humming, before smiling sadly to himself and quietly closing the door to Peggy's apartment.


End file.
